After Claudia finally woke up — she was angry. I managed to calm her down and we were now heading to the guild.

"O-Oi, it's him. That's the guy from earlier, right?"

"Uwaa, it really is — Someone's with him. Does that mean she's…..Yandere!?"

Some of the adventurers in the entryway took notice of us as we entered. Claudia is completely covered by her robe, so I doubt they can even tell what gender she is.

I guess they're a.s.suming if there's anyone with me, they are almost certainly Yandere.

"……Umm, Master? Have you noticed something strange?"

Claudia nervously pulled on my sleeve.

"They all know about my ability. Don't worry, they're not staring at you. They're only worried about me."

"….I understand."

"…..You understand?"

"You have an ability that causes everyone to feel uncomfortable around you and even cause others to run away. Even though it's something you can't change about yourself."

She sounds lonely.

"But, that's not the case with me, Master. I won't ever try to run away from you."

I can't see her expression due to her robe, but I wonder if she's smiling.

I'm grateful for her feelings. There's no reason for me to be so depressed on my own. I need to act more like her…

First of all, I gently stroked her head while saying, "Sure, sure. Thank you."

"Master, please don't treat me like a child."

"Sure, sure."

"Master!?"

I tried to walk to the receptionist —

"Ah, boy, do you have a minute?"

A voluptuous onee-san wearing risque clothing blocked my path. I moved back to hide Claudia from her.

"Do you need something from me?"

"There's no need to be rude. My name is Yuno. You're the boy that registered at the Guild today, right?"

"…why do you ask?"

"Why are you acting so cold? You're a rookie, right? I'm sure I could teach you a lot."

"–I'm fine on my own."

I answered immediately and walked away while pulling Claudia by the hand. I already know. I don't even need to think about it. The only reason she was interested in me was due to my Yandere ability.

I could hear her call out to me, but I continued on to the reception desk.

And felt relieved —

"Who is this girl holding your hand, Minase-kun?"

— I had no time to relax, as Sylphy greeted me at the desk. Sylphy was smiling, but I felt like she was ready to kill me.

That's right! I forgot about Sylphy!

This is bad. So bad! What should I do!?

"Nice to meet you. I am Master's slave. My name is Claudia."

Claudia doesn't know about Sylphy and casually introduced herself.

"Oh, is that so. I am Minase-kun's personal receptionist. You can call my Sylphy."

Personal…..Well, she's not lying, but I feel like there's a deeper meaning there….Is it just my imagination?

As I thought this, Sylphy came even closer.

"By the way, you were also talking with Yuno-san earlier, weren't you?"

"Ah, that onee-san from earlier? She scared me a little, so I tried to end that conversation as quickly as possible."

Sylphy nodded and seemed satisfied with that answer.

"That was the right decision. That woman is a real s.a.d.i.s.t. Whatever she wants she gets. And, even worse, she is a severe Yandere. Be careful around her."

"……Seriously?"

"Seriously. She would almost certainly take you captive."

…Is confinement the default choice for Yanderes in this world? This world has too many unpleasant things. As I was lost in thought, Claudia poked me in the side.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering why she called you Minase –"

I covered Claudia's mouth in an instant.

I showed my status window to Claudia, but she couldn't read kanji. I only told her my name was Yuzuki.

On the other hand, I gave my surname hear to hopefully avoid whoever Rose sent after me…..If Claudia were to say, "Who is Minase-kun?" Sylphy would probably stab me to death before I could even say anything.

Well, I'd be able to say something after being brought back to life.

"…Master?"

"Well, Sylphy-san has become Yandere due to my skill."

I told Claudia the basic information she needed to know and she was able to understand even with that little bit of information. I could see her tremble and she became quiet.

"Minase-kun, this girl is the slave you purchased?"

"T-That's right."

"Well, you two just seem very close."

I covered her mouth and was holding her hand in front of Sylphy. Sylphy was starting to doubt our relations.h.i.+p. I quickly put some distance between Claudia and myself.

"Th-Th-That's just your imagination. Right, Claudia!?"

"T-Th-That's right! Master and I aren't close at all!"

"…Is that true?"

""Of course!""

We both answered at the same time.

"…..But, you both seem really in sync with one another."

Now, we’re both staying quiet at the same time. Why is she acting the same as me! I slowly turned to look at Claudia…she’s looking at me too!

"…Claudia, it’s your time to s.h.i.+ne. Protect me."

"She could kill me with just her smile. It’s just impossible for me……"

I can hear the fear in her voice…she made a promise with me to protect me from ordinary Yanderes, but Sylphy is no ordinary Yandere. I can’t blame her for being scared.

Well, it can’t be helped. For now, I’ll do my best to hide Claudia as I speak with Sylphy.

"Umm…I’m sorry. We were actually looking for a quest to do…do you have anything that you think we’d be capable of doing?"

I thought it would be obvious that I was trying to change the subject, but Sylphy just said. "Minase-kun is relying on me! — Leave it to your onee-chan!"

So now Sylphy wants to be a reliable onee-san to me? That's something impossible for a Yandere….

That's right, she's Yandere. I need to be careful.

"By the way, Minase-kun. I checked your status earlier but I never saw your ability score. What is it?"

"Eh…..Around 10,000 or so."

"…liar."

"Wh-Wh-Why would you say that?"

"It's simply impossible for it to be that low. With the 'To Be Loved to Death by Yanderes' ability being rank SSS, your ability score shouldn't be lower than 60,000."

Is that so….

"I'm sorry. The truth is, if you only factor in my combat ability, my skill level is only that of an average person."

"I see. Is that the case for her as well?"

"She won't be any help in a fight."

I quickly answered. I could hear a cute, "Muu~" from behind me. It is true that she has support magic, but with all of her abilities being lowered by two, her combat ability is probably around the same level of a child.

"Well……Even if that is the case, I think you should be fine in the local dungeon. The dungeon in this city is of the lowest cla.s.s. Even without proper equipment, you should be able to make it through the first two floors. "

"Dungeon?"

"Yes. I'm sure you already know, but there is a dungeon that spreads out beneath this city. If you kill the monsters in this dungeon and collect the manastones they drop, you can sell them to make a good profit."

"I see……Would my rank as an Adventurer also go up?"

"If you were to bring in enough manastones that may happen. Though even children are capable of gathering some manastones, so I'm not sure how many you'd need to bring to raise your rank. Still, I think this is a good opportunity for you to test your abilities."

"I see. Thank you."

The first thing I thought I'd need was equipment, but she did say even children can defeat some of the easier monsters. For now, this should give me a chance to determine how strong I am.

"By the way, where is this dungeon?"

"Behind the Guild."

…it was closer than I expected.

And so, we were no approaching the entrance to the dungeon. There were two guards standing side by side as we approached the entrance. When they noticed us, they smiled and waved to us.

"Hey, this is the entrance to Bandol Dungeon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two here before."

The dungeon in the city of Bandol is called Bandol Dungeon? How simple.

"h.e.l.lo. Today will be my debut as an adventurer. This will be my first time entering the dungeon, so is there anything you can tell me?"

"Of course, I don’t mind…I’m bored out of my mind just standing here anyway. I’m a former adventurer, so I’m sure I can give you a lot of useful information."

One of the guards, an old man with a hardened appearance, offered us advice.

This is everything he told us.

Other than that, everything he told me was already covered by Sylphy. Anyway, even children are supposed to be able to handle the first few levels.

"Well, for now, I feel like it would be best if I experienced it for myself. Do I need to buy a torch or anything like that?"

"That shouldn’t be necessary. On the floors where adventurers have explored many times, there is a light source that uses the mana of the dungeon to light up the area. If you’re just going to the first few floors you should be fine."

"……A light source?"

The guard explained to me that there is a cheap magical tool that can create light after receiving a small amount of mana. Originally, this tool would’ve required a manastone to function, but the dungeon seems to be overflowing with mana. Just activating the item in the dungeon seems to be enough for it to work.

By the way, it seems people believe all of that excess mana in the dungeon is the reason why all of the monsters keep reappearing and it seems that the mana used to create these monsters crystallizes inside of them forming the manastones.

So, adventurers dive into the dungeons in order to obtain manastones that are used to power magical tools.

Basically, low-level adventurers are the miners of this world.

"Then, let’s enter."

"Sure. Be careful."

We were sent off by the two guards and entered the dungeon–

"What is this place…"

After entering the first level of the dungeon, I was rather surprised by the interior. It looked like a natural cave. Moreover, I can see many paths heading in different directions and on the far side of the room I can see the entrance to an even bigger room.

"…why are you so shocked?"

"What do you mean…isn’t this place too big?"

"Really? This is my first time seeing it in person, but I’m pretty sure this is average sized."

"No, no, that’s impossible. This is beneath the city. If it’s like this throughout the dungeon, wouldn’t the ground beneath the city collapse?"

Each of the many diverging paths seems to be around five meters wide. Moreover, I have no idea how many levels there are in this dungeon.

I was amazed by what Claudia said.

"If it were an ordinary tunnel the ground may collapse, but this is a dungeon."

"Eh….What does that mean? What kind of reasoning is that?"

"What do you mean……That's just the reason."

W-Well, this is a different world. Apparently, monsters can also appear out of thin air, so who am I to argue with the scientific laws of this world.

"Anyway, should we go and start looking for some monsters?"

"Ah, wait a minute."

I started walking forward but Claudia pulled on my sleeve.

"What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just thought it would be a good idea to test my support magic. I learned it after you had fun playing with me, remember?"

"It should be useful, but I really did a terrible thing."

"…I remember breathing heavily for some time. After that, I seemed to have lost consciousness. Or don't you remember, devil Master?"

"…Sorry. Please, use as much support magic as you'd like."

I felt sorry, so I told her to use her support magic however she wanted.

Well, I also hope that Claudia will awaken to the joy of using magic and want to learn even more skills. I don't have any perverted ulterior motives.

"Then, I'll cast haste on you, Master."

"…okay."

Claudia's Haste skill is rank F. Due to her curse, it should be two ranks lower. Doesn't that mean I'll be slowed down instead?

Well…..If we're just testing it here it should be fine. This area seems safe enough.

"So…I first need to concentrate on my target." Claudia began intensely staring at me. "I-I'm not looking at you for any other reason!"

"…I didn't say anything."

"I-I'm not thinking about anything indecent! T-This time I'll definitely cast it!"

"Sure, sure."

It's always fun messing with Claudia.

Every girl in my previous life was Yandere, so I've never really had the chance to enjoy talking normally with a girl.

It's definitely not an ordinary life, but I am enjoying my life with an ordinary girl.

Anyway, she seems to be done picturing her target and she then said "Haste." Immediately after that, a magic circle began to form beneath her.

And after only a few seconds, it was completed.

"Perverted Master."

I thought I was being verbally abused just as the magic moved to me.

It seems the words she just used were to help with the magic's targeting. Though, I don't understand it entirely…..I can feel the mana flowing inside of me.

However, if I try jumping or moving around at all, I don't feel any different. Well, at least I don't feel any slower…..And I could see Claudia's emerald green eyes open wide.

"…is something wrong? Why do you seem so surprised?"

"Umm, well…how do I say this…to raise a skill's rank you need to use it a lot. Even to increase a skill to rank E you would need to use it at least 100 times. Some skills may even require you to use it over a thousand times before it will rank up to E."

"Okay, I can understand that…wait, you don't mean!?"

"Yes. Well…Haste has increased in rank."